Navigating The Neurotypical Workplace

My varied autistic work experiences spanning a quarter-century

Photo by Tom Ramalho on Unsplash

Anyone who has a disability knows how exhausting it makes our lives. Whether it’s having to justify our disabilities to those who don’t understand, or enduring constant ableist microaggressions once people find out about us (and even beforehand) — we never know what to expect from the peanut gallery of privilege.

This can be especially traumatizing and demoralizing whenever we go to work. Are our coworkers going to find subtle ways to use our disabilities against us? Will our supervisor invent a “performance-oriented” excuse based on plausible deniability, so they can terminate our employment largely because they don’t want to deal with how “difficult” we are?

With such a diversity of employers out there, every disabled person will have unique experiences. But, while the exact circumstances might vary, one thing remains constant: our competence and work ethic are routinely questioned when bosses and coworkers don’t even want to try seeing things from outside of their able bubbles.

The following is an oral accounting of my work history. I’ve summarized it chronologically, to give you a glimpse at what sorts of occupational positions I’ve held. Hopefully, this helps naysayers understand why I (and so…